When I saw the headline that Shane Wright had been sent down, I proclaimed, "finally."

Then I saw that it was for a conditioning stint. That means that Wright can only stay with the Coachella Firebirds for a maximum of two weeks. The Firebirds play five games over this two week period which will only be two games fewer than Shane Wright has played in the last nearly two months of NHL play.

At this point I'm prepared to state my tinfoil hat theory. There absolutely has to have been a clause in the contract that Wright signed with the Kraken that stated that the team was not allowed to send him down unless he and his agent specifically okayed it. Wright is not NHL ready at this time. That is fine, he is an 18 year old kid and even the absolute best 18 year old's struggle to make an impact at that age. This lack of playing however absolutely can hurt and negatively impact his long term development.

Continuing my theory, Wright cannot stay in the AHL due to the rule between the NHL and various Junior Hockey Leagues. However he is able to stay there for a limited amount of time, thus the conditioning stint. Assuming Wright gets some top end ice time with Coachella, perhaps he realizes he would rather play in big minutes instead of limited ice-time and games in the NHL and elects to return to Junior Hockey for the remainder of the season.

For now this is a benefit to the player but it is still just one more bizarre decision in the Shane Wright saga. Perhaps at the end of this two weeks we will have a better idea at what the remainder of this year has in store for the young forward.

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